The present invention relates to compositions useful as mammalian dietary compositions and supplements. In particular, the invention relates to food additives and dietary supplements capable of enhancing tissue morphogenesis and development, particularly in individuals at risk for normal tissue development and viability. Examples of such individuals include infants, particularly prematurely-born ("preterm") and low birth weight infants, and juveniles; aged individuals; and individuals experiencing altered metabolic function and/or suffering from metabolic dysfunctions and other disorders that threaten organ or tissue function or viability, such as can result from malnutrition or starvation, autoimmune diseases, organ cirrhosis and other tissue necrotizing dysfunctions, or disorders associated with aging cells (cell senescence.)
Mammalian infants are nourished by mother's milk until such time as they can digest food solids. Infant formulas now exist for humans and other mammals which can supplant or supplement mother's milk. The formulas may be milk based (e.g., cow milk) or non-milk-based (e.g., soy). Particularly at risk are prematurely born infants whose tissues and organs are at an earlier stage of development, and whose nutritional requirements may differ from those of full term infants. Formula development is an ongoing endeavor to more accurately mimic the beneficial aspects of mother's milk. Nevertheless, despite the efforts of many researchers, infant formulas still differ in a number of significant ways from human milk. In part this is due because human milk has many substances, such as immunoglobulins, free amino acids, polyamines, nucleotides and polyunsaturated fatty acids not present, for example, in cow's milk. In addition, while infant formulas try to mimic the protein quantity found in human milk, the foreign proteins typically are present in the formula as hydrolysates to avoid rejection or reaction by the infant's digestive system. The proteins are present primarily as amino acid sources rather than as functional proteins as might normally be transmitted by the nursing mother to the infant. In addition, human milk may contain unidentified growth and differentiation factors that are important for overall tissue and skeletal development.
Another group of individuals with potentially unique nutritional requirements are individuals undergoing metabolic changes which may result from periods of intense growth or stress, including, for example, pregnant women and drowning victims. Other sources of stress to the body may result from malnutrition or starvation, or from metabolic disorders that affect organ viability, such as autoimmune disease and organ cirrhosis. Aged individuals, and postmenopausal women also have altered or slower metabolic function. All of these individuals are at risk for tissue damage or loss of tissue function due to altered metabolic function.
Reduced or lost tissue function due to malnutrition also is found in many patients admitted to hospitals (protein energy malnutrition, "PEM"). Proper nutritional support for such patients, while not a primary mode of treatment is, nevertheless, an important factor for therapy and recovery. It is, therefore important to administer a nutritionally balanced diet given orally, enterally or parenterally, adequate to the needs of the patient. This is especially true for those patients where conventional feeding is contraindicated (e.g., in dehydrated or gastroenterological patients) or is insufficient (e.g., in hypercatabolic patients). The enteral or oral mode of administration of foods typically is preferable to parenteral modes because of the lower morbidity, trophic effect upon the intestinal mucosa, reduced dependency on instrumentation and lower costs.
It is an object of this invention to provide dietary compositions and supplements for enhancing tissue morphogenesis, including tissue growth, development, maintenance and viability in a mammal, particularly a human. Another object of the invention is to provide an infant formula capable of enhancing tissue development in an infant or juvenile. Still another object is to provide an infant formula that more closely mimics a nursing mother's milk. Another object of the invention is to provide dietary supplements for individuals at risk for normal tissue development, growth, maintenance and viability, including premature infants, aged individuals and individuals with altered metabolic function and/or suffering from disorders or metabolic dysfunctions which threaten organ viability and function. These and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims which follow.